The One With The Birth
"The One With The Birth" is the twenty-third episode of the first season of Friends, which aired on NBC on May 11, 1995. Plot When Ross' ex-wife Carol is rushed to the hospital to have their baby, all the friends come along, but prove less than helpful. Rachel only has eyes for the unmarried obstetrician. Monica becomes despondent, believing she'll never have a child; Chandler attempts to comfort her and tells her that, if they're both still single when they're 40, they could have a child together. His good intentions backfire on him when Monica wants to know why he thinks she'll still be single when she's 40. When Joey has an argument with a single pregnant woman, he finds himself the only available birth coach. After Carol throws Ross and her lesbian life-partner Susan out for bickering, Phoebe manages, while lecturing the pair, to lock all three of them in a janitorial closet. While in there, Phoebe responds to Ross and Susan arguing in an unusual way—by telling them how great she thinks it is. She says that, when she was a kid she barely had enough pieces of parents to make one whole one, but this baby isn't even born yet and he has three people fighting over which one of them gets to love him the most, and it's just the luckiest baby in the world. When Phoebe later puts on a janitor's outfit with a nametag reading "Ben", it inspires Ross and Susan to propose Ben as the name for the baby. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Courtney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Jonathan Silverman - Dr. Franzblau Jane Sibbett - Carol Willick Jessica Hecht - Susan Bunch Leah Remini - Lydia June Gable - Nurse Carlo Imperato - Roy Jackie Bright - The Janitor Crew Directed By: James Burrows Written By: David Crane, Marta Kauffman, Jeff Greenstein & Jeff Strauss Trivia *This is the first episode not to feature Central Perk and Monica and Rachel's apartment. *June Gable, who plays the nurse helping Joey's pregnant woman and Carol, also plays Estelle Leonard, Joey's talent agent. Although not shown in the TV episodes, Gable plays the part of Estelle first, in "The One With The Butt" (S1E6) (this can be seen in the uncut DVD episode). **This is the only episode for June Gable to play a part other than Estelle Leonard in the show. *When discussing names, Ross mentions 'the whole Jesse, Cody, Dylan fiasco.' One of the actors who would later play his son is Cole Sprouse, whose twin brother is named Dylan. Cole also played a boy named Cody on the successful Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and The Suite Life on Deck. *Chandler's proposed backup marriage to Monica may foreshadow their eventual, wholehearted engagement in season 6. *In the scene where Monica sees one of the women going home with twins, she says that it's not fair that she gets two when Monica doesn't even have one, this could possibly be foreshadowing Monica having twins in season 10. Images The One With The Birth Joey Helper.png TOWTBirth.png Episode Navigation Category:Season 1 Category:Friends Episodes Category:Friends